KANSAS CITY - Campus leaders from around the state have mixed feelings about MUís ability to use the name "University of Missouri" to describe the Columbia campus for public relations, recruiting, student and faculty purposes.

In a deal brokered between University of Missouri-Columbia Chancellor Brady Deaton and Interim system President Gordon Lamb, approved by the curators yesterday, MU dropped its request for a full name change that would have eliminated the hyphen and "Columbia" in favor of a "limited use" compromise.

"It provides the flexibility that a lot of our constituents were looking for," Deaton said after the curators gave unanimous approval after a short discussion. "This has been our name since 1839, so itís not a change in that sense, itís a restoration."

Deaton said the name that includes Columbia will still be used on official and legal documents, and signs around campus would not be changed to reflect yesterdayís approval.

In 1963 when the University of Missouri System was created to add campuses in Rolla, Kansas City and St. Louis, names were changed to include regional designations. The Rolla campus recently moved away from the regional designation to focus on its mission, changing its name with curator approval to the Missouri University of Science & Technology, effective Jan. 1.

Lamb said the MU deal will strengthen fundraising efforts for the Columbia campus and the UM system as a whole.

"Not everybody is going to be happy with every decision thatís made," said Lamb. "I think this is a good decision for the university, and itís good for the Columbia campus and itís good for the other campuses as well."

Tim Farmer, president of the UMSL faculty Senate, disagreed. "I think itís more of an insult than having any significant impact on us," he said. "When Rolla changed its name, it wasnít taking its name from someone else."

"It doesnít help us at all," he added. Farmer believes the change will undo some of the unifying work done by former university system president Elson Floyd.

Frank Blum, president of the faculty Senate at Rolla, said the limited use could help. "It might strengthen us if the parts are strengthened," he said. "I think on our campus, it doesnít weigh that big. It does represent a little bit of a new era."

Blum said the limited use change at Columbia might have no impact, while Rollaís name change will likely lessen the identification people have for Rolla with the university system.

Gary Ebersole, president of UMKCís faculty senate, was satisfied that Deaton moved away from his original name change request, which in his opinion would have pressured other campuses to change their names.

"I think it really just recognizes the status quo," he said.

Ebersole said MUís name change proposal was "derogatory" to the other campuses, claiming MU as the only research university while seeming to ignore that UMKC offers things that MU doesnít have, such as conservatory of music and schools of dentistry and pharmacy.

"It was just totally denigrating to the other campuses," he said. "Thatís not what was approved, but there was an arrogance involved to claim the name of the ĎUniversity of Missourií."